Friends, I wish you could've seen the meltdown I had about an hour ago, because it was stellar. I went to the doctor and had a quick strep test that came up negative (they're going to culture it anyway and call me if it turns out positive, which theoretically could happen), after which I drove home. I put my coat away and all that, and then I started crying because I just feel so Horrible. After a minute or two of crying and saying out loud how terrible I feel (I was the only one home at the time), I started to get amused by my self-pitying, and laughed a little. And then I cried again but the sound of my crying made me laugh again, and basically it went like that for 5 minutes or so; the alternating crying/laughing. Then I had a coughing fit and had to catch my breath and the hysteria was over.

My appointment this morning was with someone other than the primary care doctor I had chosen when I got my new insurance, but for some reason unknown to me, the doctor who came into the exam room was my PCP. He is Great, and I'm really glad I got to meet him and decide that yes, I do want him to be my doctor, because had I not seen him, I probably would have come straight home and changed to a doctor in a different clinic. I do not like that clinic. The first strike against it came mere seconds after I arrived; I was waiting in line for the desk when a young nurse poked her head out of the inner sanctum and called out, "ALICE?" An 80-ish woman stood up and made her way to the nurse, and see, I very much disapprove of calling clients (notice how I didn't say "patients"? I hate that terminology) by their first names, especially when they are older. Why not call everyone by Mr. or Ms. and their last names? I mean, how hard is that? Not very, that's how hard.

The second strike against the clinic was mainly that one of the ladies manning the reception desk was extremely unpleasant. She wasn't too bad at first (though I did take an instant dislike to her), but when I was at the lab, just about to get my throat swabbed with the long Q-tips, she arrived and demanded to know what I was doing there. I told her I was getting a strep test and she asked me who had ordered it. I told her the doctor's name and she indignantly told me I was supposed to be seeing a different doctor. Well DUH, lady, but I figured there was a change in plans; a different doctor came into the room than I was expecting and HOW IS THAT MY FAULT? What. a crab. And by crab I mean something entirely different. The women in the lab froze when Crab showed up; they have obviously dealt with her many times before.

Anyway, it seems to be my lot in life to like my doctor but hate their clinic, and I accept this. Hopefully I won't have to go to the clinic very often anyway, and hello Universe, it would be really nice if I could stop getting sick now for awhile. I mean, 3 viruses in less than 3 months--how is this just?